Azeem's now Sukma sprint king

KUALA LUMPUR: National athlete Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi is now the Malaysia Games (Sukma) sprint king after emerging as men's 100-metre (m) champion today.

In the final of the blue riband event at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, the 18-year-old from Perak completed the race in 10.25 seconds (s).

National athletes dominated the event when Johor's Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat (10.46s) and Negeri Sembilan's Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi (10.50s) completed the podium.

Muhammad Azeem was thrilled to have presented Perak with the 100m gold medal, although he still has two more events to go - the 4x100m tomorrow (Sept 17) and 200m on Sunday (Sept 18).

"This is my second Sukma outing after I finished eighth and last at the 2018 edition in Perak. So, this year I've come back to take what's mine... that's all.

"I still have time for recovery. I aim to dip below 21 seconds in the 200m and maybe even clock my personal best (by bettering his previous best of 20.83s). But I need to be wary of the other challengers, especially Arsyad and Haiqal," said Muhammad Azeem, who advanced to the 100m final after winning Heat Two of the semi-finals in 10.33s.

He also confirmed that Sukma would be the last time he competes in the 100m event for this year, although he will still run in the 200m event at the Athletics Challenge in Japan in early October.

Muhammad Azeem was dubbed the "Malaysian Usain Bolt" after he broke the national men's 100m record by clocking 10.09s at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia recently to erase the old mark of 10.18s set by former Southeast Asia sprint champion Khairul Hafiz Jantan at the Sarawak Sukma in 2016.

Meanwhile, Nor Sarah Adi of Pahang emerged as the Sukma sprint queen when she clocked 11.91s to just miss out on the meet record of 11.81s that was set by Azreen Nabila Alias of Terengganu at the 2018 edition in Perak.

Sabah's Sabah Nur Aishah Rofina Aling (12.08s) and Selangor's Nur Afrina Batrisyia Mohamad Rizal (12.10s) came in second and third respectively.

"Although I did not improve on my personal best (11.89s) or break the Sukma record, I am happy and thankful that I managed to stay consistent by clocking below 12 seconds. After yesterday's semi-finals, I felt that there were several aspects that I needed to improve on, including my start, as well as the need for me to stay cool and not try too hard," she said.

Nor Sarah, who won the pole vault gold medal at the Hanoi SEA Games in Vietnam in May, said she would continue to focus on pole vault in a bid to defend the gold at the SEA Games and qualify for the Asiad.

-- BERNAMA